Per Mertesacker is entrusted with the job of collecting fines from Arsenal players in breach of club discipline but the German may find himself going cap in hand to manager Arsene Wenger for his place in the team.

Emmanuel Adebayor is likely to miss Tottenham’s Europa League tie against Panathinaikos tomorrow but is targeting a return to Andre Villas-Boas’s squad for Sunday’s match with Aston Villa.

The forward was back in training with the first-team squad yesterday following a hamstring injury but the coaching staff are thought to consider it too soon to bring him back into action.

Adebayor completed a permanent move to White Hart Lane in August after a successful loan spell at the club last season but he has played for only 60 minutes for the first team since signing from Manchester City in a £5million deal.

At the start of the campaign, Jermain Defoe was preferred to Adebayor — who was still building match fitness — as Villas-Boas’s lone forward, before the former Arsenal striker’s injury kept him out of the next five fixtures.

With a two-week international break to follow the Villa game, Villas-Boas is likely to retain a strong starting XI for the Group J encounter.

The Portuguese admits his team have been galvanised by their 3-2 win at Manchester United last weekend, which extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to seven matches, and remains focused on securing a top-four finish for the club.

“It was an important win for us, for the impact it has and because of the team we beat, but there is a still a long way to go,” said Villas-Boas. “We have to continue to make progress and ensure we get Champions League qualification. Old Trafford was something special for the club.”

Both Kyle Naughton and Jake Livermore are making progress in their recoveries from foot and hernia problems respectively but neither is thought to be fit enough to make the trip to the Greece.